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KANSAS-THE TERRITORIES. 



F 685 
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SPEECH 



HON. LEWIS CA 



OF 



DELIVERED IN THE SENAT 



The Senate, as in Committee of the. Whole, resumed the 
consideration of the bill (S. No. 172) to authorize the people 
of the Territory of Kansas to form a constitution and State 
government, preparatory to their admission into the Union, 
when they have the requisite population. 

Mr. CASS proceeded to address the Senate. 
He said: 

Mr. President, yesterday I submitted to the 
Senate a view and review of the constitutional 
principles, which regulate the relations between 
the United States and their Territories, and of the 
course of legislation with regard to those depend- 
encies, and to-day I propose to submit some 
remarks upon the state of things in Kansas, and 
upon the measures, which Congress is called upon 
to adopt. 

Mr. President, I am not going into a detailed 
examination of the occurrences in that Territory, 
which render our interposition necessary, especi- 
ally after the investigation, which they have un- 
dergone, and which we have read in reports, and 
listened to in debates. I shall. deal only in general 
facts, with a view to general conclusions. 

In the first place, sir, allow me to observe, that 
whatever unjustifiable proceedings have taken 
place in Kansas — and there have been too many 
of them — they have not shaken, in the slightest 
degree, my conviction of the right of man to govern 
himself, nor my confidence in the salutary oper- 
ation of that true principle of human authority. 
I have read and heard sneering remarks upon 
the so-called failure of the experiment of popular 
sovereignty, preposterously called an experiment, 
after our experience of generations — remarks 
made, I have no doubt, by those, who desire a 
failure. Even were it so, it would not touch the 
i question, unless we are prepared to test the truth 
of a great principle by its accidental abuse. The 
political organization of our country is the his- 
tory, as well as the exemplification of popular 
sovereignty, for a long series of years. Glorious 
has been its work, and more glorious will it be 
hereafter; and yet there is scarcely a State in the 
Union, in which, at some period of its existence, 
commotions have not broken out, and the laws 
been resisted, and sometimes the most alarming 
consequences threatened. But these have all 
happily passed away; and, while leaving their 
memory a warning, leaving it also a proof, that 
free institutions carry with them the power of 
self-conservation, and the means of safety. And 
in all this time, and during many a day of trial 
and danger, not one human life has been sacri- 
ficed to avenge the law, or to restore its suprem- 
acy ! What other country can sajjas much since 




flCHIGAN, 



13, 1858. 



the first institution of governments, after the 
dispersion of the descendants of Adam upon 
the plains of Shinar? I am satisfied, from some 
examination, that there was a greater waste of 
human life and treasure in the riots of London, 
in 1780, than there has been in this country in 
all the acts of resistance to the public authority, 
which are found in our history, colonial or inde- 
pendent. Does the experience of the world show 
that man is fitter to govern others than himself, 
and that power is safer with the few than with 
the many? Let history answer this question, 
and answer also the indignant interrogatory of 
Mr. Jefferson, " Have we found angels in the 
form of men to govern us ?" 

There were peculiar circumstances attending 
the institution of government in Kansas, to which, 
and not to the principles that regulated if, are the 
lamentable proceedings to be traced. Those prin- 
ciples were wise and just, and not a voice has 
been raised in their condemnation among the 
people over whom they were to operate. From 
the 4th of July, 1776, to this day, they have been 
the American guides of political organization. 
But at this time they were applied to a country 
beset with external, rather than internal, difficul- 
ties and dangers. These arose out of the question 
of slavery, which seems destined, by its oppo- 
nents, to be an eternal subject of agitation — a 
subject which, though never sleeping, becomes 
quadrennially more violent, as the presidential 
term approaches its renewal. This is its recur- 
ring season, and time and experience teach us no 
lesson of wisdom or forbearance. My sentiments 
on the general subject of this slavery excitement 
are already before the country; and events as they 

Fass by serve but to strengthen my convictions, 
listened with deep interest, the other day, to 
the masterly effort of the Senator from Alabama, 
[Mr. Clay,] who, while doing justice to his con- 
stituents, did honor to himself and to the Senate. 
Though I dissented from some of his remarks and 
conclusions, yet in the general scope of his ob- 
servations, there was great force and justice — con- 
siderations of the gravest character, appealing to 
every true-hearted American. While I listened 
to the complaints he spread before us in behalf 
of the South against the North, I wished I could 
deny their justice, but felt that I could not. And 
as he proceeded with his recapitulation, I felt 
also that this eternal warfare against one half of 
the Union had become as disgusting by its repe- 
tition, as it was unjust in itself and dangerous in 
its consequences. 1 begin to hare as little charity 
for many of those engaged in this crusade, as 
sympathy with tJ.ie movement itself. The South 



•r & 
• C34-, 



intermeddles not with the social institutions of 
the North; let the North exhibit the same spirit of 
toleration, and we shall be the strongest and the 
most contented, as we are the freest nation, on the 
face of the globe. We have been told here, time 
and again, recently and formerly, that there is 
no design to interfere with slavery in any of the 
States of the Union. The power is disavowed as 
well as the purpose. But the disavowal is con- 
tradicted by events, that are hourly passing before 
our eyes. He who believes in a higher law, of 
■whose extent and obligations he is the judge, and 
-which justifies him in disobeying a human law, 
is prepared to follow the fantasies of the wildest 
imagination. What is the Construction to him ? 
who has a constitution of his own, overruling 
and overriding the laws of his country? Why, 
sir, in the House of Representatives, during the 
present session of Congress, a member from New 
York maintained, that " slavery in the United 
States is unconstitutional, and therefore un- 
lawful." " The Constitution, both in spirit and 
express terms, repudiates slavery, and bars its 
existence." 

And, even now, we are just told by a resolu- 
tion of the " American Anti-Slavery Society," 
" that the right to enslave a human being on any 
pretense whatever is not a debatable question, 
any more than is the right to commit adultery, 
burglary, highway robbery, or piracy." 

And we are told in another resolution, " that 
they are struggling to drive slavery out of the 
land." It requires a good deal of moral courage, 
in the face of such declarations, to contend that 
no one entertains a design to interfere with slavery 
in the States. No man of ordinary sagacity can 
doubt the tendency of the doctrines, which are 
disseminated in high places and in low places upon 
this whole subject, and that are addressed to pas- 
sions more easily excited than allayed. Among 
Other dangerous signs, a spirit of fanaticism is 
evoked, before which the guarantees of the Con- 
stitution may be prostrated, as easily as the marks 
on the sand are obliterated by the incoming tide 
of the ocean. It is already doing its work, and 
this is the most alarming symptom in this terrible 
national malady. It is fostered and encouraged by 
men professedly servants of the Most High, and 
ministering at his altar. It prostrates the judgment 
and almost paralyzes the conscience, and prepares 
the excited mind for strange delusions and dan- 
gerous deeds. The scene, which lately passed at 
New Haven, when God's day and God's house 
were desecrated by appeals to fierce passions to 
stimulate men to action, instead of being devoted 
to their true purpose of guiding and restraining 
them, was a spectacle to be contemplated with 
regret, with indignation indeed, and alarm. The 
temple at Jerusalem was defiled by the money- 
changers, who converted it into a bank of that 
day, and made it a scene of abominations. Our 
Savior drove them out, saying, " It is written, 
my house shall be called the house of prayer, but 
ye have made it a den of thieves." The house 
of prayer is now made an armory for the collection 
of weapons to arm Americans against their coun- 
trymen; and clergymen are not indeed money- 
changers, but gatherers and distributers of carnal, 
not of Christian weapons, to fight the battles of 
the flesh, and not the battles of the faith, forget- 
ting that " all they that take the sword shall per- 
ish by the sword;" and that they are warned by 
; ttie Apostle of the Gentiles that " the weapons of 
th^eir warfare are not carnal," &c. 



Mr. President, to preach the Gospel of Jesus 
is work enough for any human heart and intellect. 
He who devotes himself to this duty, and then 
goes after strange gods, entering the field of poli- 
tics, and mingling in its strife and bitterness, does 
more injury to the cause of true religion, within 
the sphere of his labors, than the writings of 
Voltaire and Hume, and all the other infidel 
authors who ever sought, by their sneers and 
malign influence, to destroy human confidence in 
the most precious gift of God to man. And it 
is a consolatory proof of the reality of revealed 
religion, that it is equally triumphant over the 
assaults of its open enemies, and the indiscretion, 
or something worse, of its professed friends. 

I have already remarked, that the intention to 
interfere with slavery in the States is disavowed, 
and therefore the more immediate theater of these 
labors of strife is the Territories, over which there 
is no constitutional grant of power in relation to 
this subject; and, if there were, there would be 
no justice in its exercise, because it is a question 
which the people are competent to determine for 
themselves, and which cannot be determined for 
them by a foreign body, where they have no repre- 
sentation, without violating a great principle of 
self-government, the very foundation of our in- 
stitutions, in defense of which our fathers engaged 
in a contest with the mightiest nation on the face 
of the globe. I have no patience with Americans, 
who thus condemn the patriots of the Revolution, 
casting dirt on their fathers, as the eastern phrase 
is, and seek to exercise apower over another which 
they would suffer no man to exercise over them- 
selves. Upon the very first attempt they would 
indignantly resist at home the interference, they 
so loudly call for elsewhere. Their consciences, 
which now dictate violent action, where self is 
not concerned, would soon learn their true duties 
when their own rights were in question. And 
the zeal, violence, indeed, with which this claim 
to govern others, without their own consent or 
cooperation, is asserted and prosecuted, in the 
very face of our whole history, is a moral phe- 
nomenon, betokening some strange hallucination. 
And it is a part of the prevailing system of 
aggression to excite and nourish prejudices against 
the South by making slavery the perpetual theme 
of denunciation, and too often of misrepresenta- 
tion, as though, if it were all its enemies say of 
it, the present generation , of whose social system 
it makes an essential part, were responsible for 
its introduction, or could terminate its existence. 
It came to them by inheritance, not by their own 
cooperation; and when or how it is to cease is 
known only to Him, who holds nations, not less 
than individuals, in the hollow of His hand, for it 
is beyond the sagacity of man to discover. The 
emancipation of nearly four millions of human 
beings, of a different caste and color and condition, 
living in a state of servitude among a superior 
race, superior in numbers, in power, in intellect, 
is a fearful question, which no right-minded man 
can contemplate without the deepest solicitude. 
I am not presumptuous enough to say how it 
could be done. But of this I am certain, that it 
is a matter which should be left to those whom 
it vitally interests, and who alone can decide it. 
If it were in my power to set free, to-morrow, 
every slave in the United States, I would not do 
it. I think the act would be followed by fearful 
convulsions, the apprehension of which should 
cause the wisest to pause and the firmest to trem- 
ble. The result of the experinr ;i! svWcli Eng- 



I 



land made in the Antilles has not been such as 
to encourage other countries to follow the exam- 
ple. The standard English historian, Allison, in 
a new volume of his great work, which has just 
issued from the press, tells the story in melan- 
choly terms. He says: 

" The effect of the emancipation of the nesroes has been 
to ruin our own planters, stop the civilization of our own 
negroes, and double the slave trade in extent, and quad 
ruple it in its horrors. " 

He repeats: 

" Disastrous as the results of the change have been to 
British interests, both at home and in the West Indies, 
they are as nothing to those which have ensued to the 
negroes themselves."' 

To emancipate a comparatively small number 
of slaves in a West Indian island, which may lie 
covered by the troops and surrounded by the 
fleets of the mother country, is one thing. To 
do the same deed of liberation in a far-spreading 
region, measured not by miles, but almost by great 
circles of the globe, and destitute of a military 
force to restrain the revengeful promptings or the 
dangerous suggestions of suddenly-acquired free- 
dom, is another and quite a different thing. Be- 
lieving; that slavery is a misfortune to any country, 
I hope that it will come to an end in ours, but it 
must be in Gol's good time, and in some far- 
away day, when master and slave are prepared 
for it. 

In the prosecution of this warfare against the 
character, the tranquillity, and the rights of the 
South, the press, not less than the pulpit, has 
been made an active coadjutor, and the world 
has been inundated with iog-cabin books, and 
Other productions of equal fairness and value, 
and about as worthy of credit as the travels of 
the renowned Gulliver, too often drawing their 
facts from the imagination, and their conclusions | 
from the dictates of a wild or false heart, or of, 
a disordered head. Sir, I am no defender of the 
South. It needs not my aid. It has powerful , 
advocates here, and elsewhere, able to assert its 
cause; and the latest among them, who has | 
volunteered in this commendable work — the mem- 
ber from Louisiana, [Mr. Benjamin] — in his ad- j 
dress to the Senate a few days ago, made an 
appeal to American justice and patriotism which 
I have never heard surpassed in vigor of intellect, 
or in true eloquence. The undivided attention of ji 
this high body was a just tribute to the effort 
of the gifted speaker. As a man loving my coun- 
try, and jealous of her name and fame among 
the nations of the earth, 1 feel indignant at these 
atrocious calumnies upon a large portion of my 
countrymen, and 1 have no disposition to conceal 
nor to repress that feeling. I know something 
of the condition of the slaves; and I believe, as 
I have before said in this place, that they are 
treated with all the humanity, which can reason- 
ably be expected in their situation — with a hu- 
manity honorable to the proprietors, as a class, 
and, to say the least of it, quite as well as they 
would be in the northern Slates, had this kind 
of servitude survived till this day, and far better 
than by many, whose philanthropy is shown by 
the railing and reproachful words ihey utter, and 
not by the relief they contribute to human misery. 

I know something, also, of the condition of the 
poverty-stricken population of Eurqpe, of a large 
portion of the inhabitants, who lie down in sor- 
row and get up in care, and who pass their lives 
in want, and many of them in a state of destitu- I 
tion utterly unknown in this country. And I il 



have seen more misery in the proudest capitals of 
Europe, than I ever saw in our own favored land, 
among white or black, bond orfree. The condi- 
tion of slavery has existed since the earliest ages 
of the world, and, regretted as it is, and must be, 
by the moralist, it is a great practical question, 
which everv established community must arrange 
for itself. "The Revolution found it in most of 
the States, and there it was at the adoption of 
the Constitution, and in many it yet remains, 
making part of the rights and guarantees of the 
Confederation. To touch it by the General Gov- 
ernment would be to shake to its corner-stone 
our whole political edifice. And disavowed as that 
purpose is by many of those who arc engaged 
' in this warfare, and who take counsel from dis- 
cretion, seeing the full time has not yet come, it 
should be obvious to the most superficial observer, 
that the Inevitable tendency of this state of quasi 
hostilities is to weaken the fealty and attachment 
to the Union; to create a morbid excitement, by 
which the mind and the heart are intently fixed 
upon one object, the abolition of slavery, to the 
exclusion of many a true work of charity, and 
to the extinction of many a kindly and patriotic 
sentiment, and also to the imminent hazard of 
following the institution, with hostile views, 
wherever it exists, as regardless of the rights of 
others as of the constitutional securities which 
protect it. It would almost appear as though the 
whole stock of philanthropy, of talking philan- 
thropy I mean, in portions of the country, were 
exhausted upon the black man, and that the men 
of our own race were out of the circle of human 
sympathy. All this would be but regretable, 
were it'not rendered serious by its danger. Its 
effect is but too palpable in the heart-burnings it 
has created on eacli side of the line of separation. 
This condition of the public mind excites my 
apprehension, and ought to awaken the atten- 
tion and arouse the exertion of every true patriot 
before the evil day is upon us, and the deed of 
disunion shall be done. 

When the Kansas act was passed, it was hoped 
that the great prinpiple of self-government em- 
bodied in it would lead to the tranquil adjustment 
of much of this controversy. It was looked upon 
as the olive branch, announcing the recession of 
the waters of bitterness. And such would it have 
proved had the people of the Territory been left 
to regulate this subject for themselves. The times, 
indeed, were not as propitious as they would have 
been, had a better spirit prevailed at the North. 
The fugitive slave law had been opposed, and its 
operation vilified and obstructed. Laws had been 
passed incompatible with the provisions of the 
Federal Constitution, and confessedly from hos- 
tility to the South: and other acts were done, and 
sentiments avowed, of the most unfriendly char- 
acter, which are too fresh in general recollection 
to require recapitulation. And under these cir- 
cumstances commenced the settlement and the 
government of Kansas. 

I have said that I had no purpose minutely to 
recall the untoward events, which accompanied 
the progress of this movement. I have read with 
care the narrative compiled by the Senator from 
Illinois in his report, and, while it is marked with 
signal ability, it seems to me to be marked also 
with a commendable regard to the truth. I have 
rarely read a more powerful State paper, and, in 
my opinion, it entitles its distinguished author to 
the thanks of the country. 

It is easy to trace the disturbances in Kansas 



to their true source — to external interference. 
Thatportion of the Union, connected with slavery, 
and where it is not merely a question of servitude, 
but also of safety, were in much and just excite- 
ment at the unconstitutional assaults upon this 
element of their social system. And this moment 
was chosen by the partisans of abolition, in the 
northern States, to organize emigrating parties, 
supplying them with assistance described by a 
learned professor at New Haven " as moral en- 
couragement and material aid in money or arms." 
And these new implements, not of agriculture, 
but of death, were designed for human bodies, 
instead of a virgin soil; and, as the same literary 
gentleman said, while defending this charitable 
contribution, they " were to be wielded by strong 
hands and directed by courageous minds." And 
i* this material aid" was commended to the pre- 
caution of the emigrants, who were advised to 
hasten on to the promised land, not for their own 
eakes, looking forward to the reward of industry 
and enterprise in a new country, but as soldiers, 
to fight a political battle, with such weapons, 
■whether of law or of iron, as circumstances might 
render expedient. It is not surprising, that the 
approach of these new adventurers, avowing de- 
signs peculiarly obnoxious to the neighboring 
State of Missouri, should excite alarm and lead 
the people to combine in order to resist combina- 
tions. 

I am accounting for this state of things, not 
justifying it, and the solution is found in the ordi- 
nary principles of human nature. Confederations, 
to bring about great public purposes by those 
who seek them, are sure to be met and resisted 
by antagonistic unions. I think there was no jus- 
tification for the interference of persons in the 
northern States, who did not intend to emigrate 
to Kansas, with a view to control the political 
course of the emigrants, and to pledge them to a 
particular line of policy, stimulating their feelings 
while supplying the means; and it is my deliberate 
opinion, that those, who planned and promoted 
this scheme, are morally responsible for many 
of its deplorable consequences. At the same time, ' 
I think, that the emigrant who went to Kansas 
to become a bona fide settler was in the exercise 
of his constitutional right, when he proclaimed 
his purpose, by lawful means, to oppose the intro- 
duction of slavery, and when he followed that 
purpose to its consummation at the polls. But I 
cannot say the same of the irruption of citizens 
from Missouri, some armed and some unarmed, 
who entered Kansas, with no design to become 
residents, but to control the political power of 
the Territory, with a view to political action. I 
believe the extent of this unfortunate movement 
has been overrated; but, after making all reason- 
able deductions for exaggeration, enough yet 
remains to excite regret, and to call for con- 
demnation. The sanctity of elections is the very 
palladium of our liberty. The places where they 
are held should be holy ground, where neither 
fraud nor violence should be permitted to enter. 
And, above all, they should not be entered by 
armed parties, with a view to subject this living 
element of freedom to lawless violence, thus 
bringing dishonor upon our institutions, and 
weakening respect for the laws, and impairing 
their obligations. I cannot be restrained by any 
considerations from this expression of my regret 
and disapprobation. 

Passing now, sir, from these topics, I shall 
briefly refer to the occurrences in Kansas con- 



nected with the organization of its government, in 
order to ascertain how far the Executive is justly 
liable to the censures we have heard proclaimed, 
and what course it becomes Congress to adopt in 
the present conjuncture of affairs there. The 
majority and minority reports of the committee 
afford all the facts necessary to a just appreciation 
of the circumstances. I shall therefore deal mostly 
with results. 

The organic law made provision for the institu- 
tion and operation of the Government. The prin- 
cipal agent was the Governor, and under his 
directions the preparatory measures were all 
taken, and the elections held. Evil passions were 
abroad, and in some of the districts irregular and 
violent proceedings took place, of which the 
committee reports give us the history. But the 
necessary returns were made, and both branches 
of the Legislature were declared constituted, and 
were recognized by the proper authority. Some 
of the returns were contested, but the seatsnf the 
majority of both bodies, forming a legal quorum 
for each, were not disputed, so that there was no 
just pretense for denying the legal organization 
of the Legislature. There is no need, for any pur- 
pose I propose to myself, to pass in review the 
local controversy concerning the first election, 
the setting aside of the returns by the Governor, 
the second election held by his order, or the ulti- 
mate decision of the Council and House as to 
the persons entitled to the contested seats in those 
respective bodies; because, after the convocation 
and organization of the Legislature, the qualifica- 
tion of its members wa£ a subject within its own 
jurisdiction, as an incident of its existence; as 
much so as the power to preserve order. And 
that jurisdiction could not be rightfully disputed 
without the interposition of Congress, however 
it may have been exerted, unless made a question 
before a judicial tribunal. This principle is uni- 
versal; and the proceedings of a Legislature can- 
not be invalidated by any allegation of erroneous" 
decisions respecting the qualification of its mem- 
bers. 

In the progress of this inquiry we are now 
brought to the accusations against the Executive. 
What are they, and how are they prosecuted arid- 
maintained ? But before proceeding to the con- 
sideration of this branch of the subject, I must 
request the attention of the Senate, to an episode 
in the progress of our investigation, which comes 
to relieve the monotony of the work. The hon- 
orable Senator from New York [Mr. Seward] 
has placed himself prominently among those, who 
seek to charge the occurrences in Kansas to the 
President; and he tells us in advance that those 
who do not adopt the course which he recom- 
mends, that is, the immediate admission of Kan- 
sas, will reject it in "the hope of carrying African 
slavery into that new Territory." His speech 
was heralded before delivery, and applauded after 
it; and it is evidently considered by those, who 
concur in his opinions, as the test and standard 
of their views and purposes. It has been care- 
fully prepared, and. is an elaborate assault upon 
the President, "an elaborate misconception," to 
borrow the language applied to him by the Sen- 
ator, and an unsparing denunciation of the course 
of the Administration and of the views of a ma- 
jority of the Senate, while it is made the vehicle 
of opinions peculiar to the Senator, some of which 
are rather shadowed forth than distinctly an- 
nounced. These considerations, not less than the 
high character of the speaker, give special im- 



portance to his effort; and I propose, therefore, to 
examine it with some attention, in order to con- 
demn and correct portions of his statements and 
doctrines, more particularly obnoxious to animad- 
version. 

But while I shall do this plainly, as the import- 
ance of the subject demands, 1 shall do it, I trust, 
in a proper spirit, and wiih kind personal feelings 
towards the Senator. I shall apply to him no 
allusion nor epithet — for it is not my habit — that 
ought to offend even fastidious delicacy, except 
such as is applied in his speech to the President 
of the United States; and I mean to make my 
application more just than his. And I shall do 
this in the hope that this lesson of the return of 
the chalice — not poisoned, but vituperative — 
may be profitable. That it is just, no one will 
question, who considers that these assaults, not 
of argument but of language — of offensive ian- 

fuagr, upon the President, are not the result of 
asty impulse, yielded to in the heat of debate, 
but of cool premeditation, prepared in the closet, 
and recited in the Senate. In thus dealing with 
hard and bitter words and personal imputations 
towards the Chief Magistrate of the country in 
relation to the performance of his official duties, 
if the Senator forgot the respect due to that high 
functionary as well as to himself, he should have 
recollected the respect due to the Senate, and, 
still more, to the country. There is no excuse 
for his having spoken of what he calls the Pres- 
ident's defenses as "indirect," "irrelevant," 
''ill tempered," "sophistical," and "evasive;" 
of the President's "disingenuousness," " dis- 
tortion of the Constitution," "false and imper- 
tinent issue," "ambitious imbecility,"" betrayal 
of his trust," " obscure and unfair statement," 
and for having made use of other harsh language, 
heard then with regret and surprise by almost all, 
and now recalled by me with pain. 

" Believe the prophets of God," said the King 
of.ludah, when all the men of the kingdom, with 
their wives and their children, had taken refuge 
in Jerusalem, dismayed at the invasion of the 
Moabites. " Believe the prophets of God, so 
shall ye prosper." And the Senator from New 
York, more emphatic than impassioned, has read 
this portion of Jewish history, and pressed it into 
his service. " Senators of the free States, "said he, 
" I appeal to you: believe ye tin- prophets? 1 know 
ye do." And what is the application of this ora- 
torical apostrophe? I grieve at the lamentable 
descent — at the fall from the dignity of style and 
subject. " You know, then, "he continued, " that 
slavery neither works mines nor quarries," nor 
dots other deeds of utilitarian value, which hi; 
enumerates. To believe the prophets in the days 
of old was the safety of Israel: to believe the 
prophets in the days that are upon us is the safety 
of mines, of quarries — and of abolition. We' were 
warned, in the time of our Savior, that false 
prophets should come to seduce " even the elect." 
They are already upon us. .May the God of our 
fathers, and our own God, incline the hearts of 
the American people to reject their evil counsels, 
and to hold on to our precious heritage of Union ! 

I consider the Senator'saddress upon that occa- 
sion one of. the most extraordinary displays of 
legislative, oratory it has ever been my fortune, 
good or bad, to listen to. How he ventured upon 
some of his statements, upon many of his asser- 
tions and conclusions — upon the personal impu- 
tations, which abound in his speech, and upon a 
new edition of the higher-law doctrine, freshly 



enunciated, but not amended, I confess my ina- 
bility to comprehend. Instead of a full comment- 
ary upon this effusion, " this studied, partial, and 
prejudicial history," to borrow again from the 
senatorial vocabulary prepared for the President, 
I shall restrict myself to transferring from it to 
the Senate some of its most salient passages, leav- 
ing them, almost without remark, to tell their own 
story, and the objects of their author, and to carry 
with them their own refutation. 

The speech of the Senator must be yet vivid in 
the recollection of the Senate. However intended, 
it came upon us with a kind of theatrical effect. 
Instead of being a grave and severe discussion, 
befitting the subject and the place, much of it 
took on the appearance of scenic representation; 
and we had an impeachment, in a " comedy of 
errors," rather than a dispassionate statesmanlike 
investigation. And in this contribution — whether 
to justice or party, let the country decide — the hon- 
orable Senator performed all the parts necessary 
to the success of the piece. First, the author; he 
then assumed the various and incongruous char- 
acters of prosecutor, of witness, of defendant, and 
of judge, with due gravity and dignity " citing 
the President" to the bar of the Senate, conduct- 
ing the trial, and pronouncing the condemnation. 

If the failure has been a signal one, those who 
know the Senator will be sure to attribute it to 
the weakness of the cause, which could not be 
saved, even by the acknowledged power of the 
advocate. 

After' giving his version of the troubles in 
Kansas, connected with the organization and pro- 
ceedings of the Legislature, and " an obscure and 
unfair statement it is" — this is another extract 
from the speech, and spoken of the President — 
the Senator enters upon his principal object, the 
inculpation of the President, without fear and 
without reserve, as he says, but with the self- 
confidence of one, who declares he is aware of the 
gravity of the charges — with the self-confidence, 
indeed, of the great Roman orator, when he ar- 
raigned the proconsular robber of Sicily before 
the Roman Senate. He prefers what he calls 
his charges, which are made up of his version 
of the transactions transferred to the President. 
Here they are: 

Armed bands from Missouri seized the polls, 
overpowered, or drove away the inhabitants, 
usurped the elective franchise, deposited false and 
spurious ballots, procured official certificates by 
fraud, &c. 

The Legislature established a complete and 
effective foreign tyranny over the people of the 
Territory. 

These high-handed transactions wore for the 
express purpose of establishing African slavery 
in the Territory by force, &c. 

Then come the application and the guilt. 

The President has been an accessory to these 
political transactions, with ful Icon qil icily in regard 
to the purpose for which they were committed. 

lie has adopted the usurpation, and made it his 
own,*and is now maintaining it with the military 
arm of the Republic. 

And thus are the charges against the President 
prepared, and thus is he shown to be guilty. 

A plain tale will put this down. 

The President was officially informed that dan- 
ger of resistance to the law was to be apprehended 
in Kansas; and in conformity with his duty he 
directed the military force in that Territory, when 
called on by the proper territorial authority, to 



-* - 



6 



aid in the maintenance of the laws. This is the [ 
head and front of his offense. And all the epi- 
thets, profusely employed on this occasion to 
describe the tyranny on one side, and the abuse 
and oppression on the other, and to create a cor- 
responding public reprobation and indignation, 
have reference to this single act — nothing more, 
nothing less. The matter lies within the nar- 
rowest compass, and may be summed up in two 
propositions: 

First, the Legislature of Kansas being organ- 
ized, clothed with legal forms, recognized by the 
officer to whom that duty was assigned by law, 
and in full operation, the President had no more 
right to interfere with that body, than the Legis- 
lature had to interfere with him. 

Secondly, it was the legal duty of the President 
to direct the military force of the United States to 
aid in enforcing the law in Kansas, when properly 
informed there was danger of resistance. 

So much for the sophism (another extract) of 
an accusation. And now for the sophism of a 
defense. The Senator speaks and respeaks of the 
President'sdefenses — that is the word — as though 
a formal indictment had been found against him, 
and he had as formally defended himself against 
many charges. 

On the 3lst December, 1855, the President, in 
his annual message to Congress, made a brief 
allusion to the affairs of Kansas, and made some 
very just and opportune remarks on the political 
agitation arising out of the assaults upon the 
southern States; and on the 24th of January 
succeeding, he communicated in another message 
a detailed statement of the origin, progress, and 
condition of the troubles in the Territory. 
■ And these executive documents, laid before 
Congress and the nation, in obedience to the 
requisition of the Constitution, the Senator des- 
ignates as the President's defenses, thus impos- 
ing on the unwary the impression of a real trial 
and defense, instead of a rhetorical exhibition. 
And with such pertinacious gravity does he fol- 
low out his system of tactics, that one of his 
first complaints against the President is, that he 
did not wait till his accuser, the youngest-born 
of the Republic, as he rather facetiously denomi- 
nates Kansas — a State born before its birth — had 
appeared at the Capitol to prosecute him, but 
unfairly made his defenses to Congress before 
the proper time. That is, when divested of all 
tropes, the President actually communicated to 
Congress and to his constituents, the American 
people, two messages, containing his views of 
the state of affairs in Kansas, and rendering an 
account of his stewardship — before the new can- 
didate for admission into the Union had appeared 
here by her " two chosen Senators, and one Rep- 
resentative" — unheard-of" tyranny,"" suppres- 
sion," " usurpation," " oppression," " subju- 
gation," " submission," " disfranchisement," 
" mockery," and whatever other obnoxious epi- 
thets industry can collect, or ingenuity can apply, 
to excite opprobrium against the President for the 
"impertinence "and guilt of communicating mes- 
sages to Congress. 

The " disingenuous views" (another loan) 
taken by the Senator, of the powers and duties of 
the President, are among the strangest constitu- 
tional heresies, to which this claim to rule Amer- 
icans without representation, and in contempt of 
their feelings and rights, has given birth. I com- 
prehend clearly enough his object, which is, to 
excite political indignation; but I fail entirely to 



comprehend how he fixes upon the President, 
even to his own satisfaction, any neglect of duty, 
still less any charge of a determination to intro- 
duce slavery into Kansas; for that is distinctly 
asserted, and without the shadow of proof. There 
is one portion of his speech which is mystical — 
indeed, almost a myth — where, personating the 
speechless people of the Territory — the word is 
his — he comes forward in a theatrical manner, 
stretching forth the wand of New York, and, hold- 
ing in his hand the impeachment of George the 
Third by the Congress of 1776, impeaches, in the 
words of the Declaration of Independence, the 
President of the United States. 

He then goes on to apply to the President the 
complaints made against the King of England, 
arranging eleven clauses in formal succession, 
each with its charge of omission or of commis- 
sion, in the very language of that immortal State 
paper, substituting Kansas for the colonies, and 
the Republican Chief Magistrate for the anointed 
Potentate, beginning: 

" He has refused to pass laws for the accommodation of 
the people," &c. 

" He has called together legislative bodies, at a place un- 
usual, uncomfortable," &c ., " for the purpose of fatiguing 
them into compliance with his measures " 

" He has prevented legislative houses from being elected," 
&c, " because they would oppose, with manly firmness, 
his invasions on the rights of the people." 

" He lias created a multitude of new offices, and sent 
hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out 
their substance," &c. 

" He has kept among us in time of peace standing armies," 
&c, " to compel our submission to a foreign legislature," 
&c. 

And so on to the end of the chapter of colonial 
grievances against Great Britain. 

Really, Mr. President, I can hardly treat this 
subject with the decorum due to our position and 
functions. Has the Senator from . ew York 
formed so poor an estimate of the intelligence of 
his associates here, or of his countrymen any- 
where, as to suppose that one man can be found, 
who believes that the President of the United 
States possesses the same powers in our Terri- 
tories, as the sovereign of England possesses in 
her colonies? — for hers they are in the eye of the 
law. With the exception of the appointment of 
some five or six officers, and the authority to re- 
move theTn, the President has as little legal power 
in the Territories as the Senator from New York, 
unless, indeed, there is violent opposition to the 
laws; when, if he is legally informed of the dan- 
ger, he must use the force the law places at his 
disposal to preserve and restore public order and 
tranquillity. And yetan American Senator dares, 
in his place, to say that " Kansas is to-day in the 
very act of revolution against the tyranny of the 
President of the United States;" thus identifying 
the constitutional action of the Executive with 
that tyranny which gave birth to the American 
Revolution. And after this startling proposition, 
the Senator indulges in some rather incomprehens- 
ible reflections on " the profound philosophy of 
revolutions," the value of which escapes my 
penetration. And the profundity of this ethical 
sentiment is illustrated by the discovery, that 
" the President is assumed, by the people of Kan- 
sas, to entertain a resentment, which can never 
be appeased, and his power must, consequently, 
be wholly taken away," that is, the Kansas 
public, or a portion of them, believe the Presi- 
dent is displeased with them, and therefore they 
must have a revolution — and therefore " they 
have constituted themselves a State," and come 



here asking admission into the Union. And all 
this is " the profound philosophy of revolu- 
tion." 

The Senator is quite didactic in his speech, and 
passes happily and readily from one topic to 
another — from the philosophy of revolution to 
the philosophy of propagandism; and condemns 
the President for censuring the "propagandist 
attempt to colonize the Territory with opponents 
of slavery. " The President censures, and justly, 
the external interference in the affairs of Kansas, 
by which efforts were made, in various States, 
to propagate " their social theories" in that Ter- 
ritory. And this is n proved by the Senator as 
launching severe denunciations against what he says 
the President calls "propagandist attempts." And 
then follows a eulogy upon that "great element 
of colonization, which has peopled the Western conti- 
nent;" as though the adventurers, who fled from 
civil and religious tyranny, and sought refuge 
here, came, not to enjoy their opinions, but to 
disseminate them, and to live the lives of mission- 
aries; and still more, as though the pious men, 
who devote themselves to spreading the Gospel 
of Jesus, are but co-laborers with the political 
partisan, who stays at homeand stimulates others 
to carry agitation abroad, and to propagate sec- 
ular opinions, dangerous to the peace and tran- 
quillity of another community. 

There is a school of social, or rather anti-social, 
propagandism, composed of zealous and active 
disciples, followers of Proudhon, who maintain 
that property is robbery. They have faithful co- 
adjutors in this country, whose Industrial Con- 
gress, as it was called, in laying down their creed, 
resolved, among other things, " That, by the land 
reform, we understand the entire abolition and 
annulment of all property value or ownership in 
the soil," &c. 

I do not accuse the Senator of participating in 
these sentiments He has powerful motives, from 
his success in life, for abjuring them; but I recol- 
lect that, in a speech he made not long since, in the 
city of New York, when he commenced by hailixg 
the city, as he commenced here by saluting the 
Senate — a fashion of salutatory introduction, pre- 
luding one's self or one's topic, more honored by 
the breach than by the observance — he supported 
views which, it appears to me, originate in the 
same kind of obliquity of moral vision, orin some- 
thing not as pardonable. He announced that there 
was ail aristocracy it: this country; that aristocra- 
cies arc cnated by privileged classes; that slave- 
holders constitute one of these classes. And why 
this attempt to excite popular indignation against 
a portion of our fellow-citizens by conferring 
upon them an obnoxious designation? The slave- 
holder owns slaves because the law permits it. 
Conscience and sound policy, said the Senator, 
prohibit it. The landholder owns land, as he is 
allowed to do by law. Proudhon and his school 
say that conscience and sound policy prohibit it, 
for it is robbery. 

Here is the same principle, differing only in 
its specific application. All, who come within it, 
are equally aristocrats. A privileged class is 
created by the Senator from New York, and is 
made a kind of raw-head and bloody-bones, be- 
cause it holds one species of property. But there 
are neither peculiar privileges nor exclusive rights 
attached to its tenure; for every man in a slave State 
may, by law, without distinction, possess it. 
And why does not the denunciation equally apply 
to the holders of every Bpecies of property — to 



the holders of real estate, of money, of stock, of 
manufacturing establishments, which concentrate 
and control labor, and to every other article 
which constitutes the wealth of society, and the 
object and the reward of laudable industry and 
enterprise? It is easy to raise prejudices upon 
this subject. It is easy to conceive their opera- 
tion upon the human mind, and how the man 
who has a coat, is considered an aristocrat by 
him who has none. It is an old story in human 
experience, as the Senator knows, for he has 
Studied the history of Rome, and referred us to 
the conduct of her. Tribunes. The office does not 
exist in this country; but one of the abuses, 
which made it memorable — that of pandering to 
popular prejudices — is among us carefully cher- 
ished and often faithfully practiced. 

Now, sir, according to the Senator, he who 
goes abroad to teach " his social and political 
theories," is a missionary of propagandism, and 
his character is not changed by the nature of his 
doctrine; and he who censures his ill-timed zeal 
or wicked purpose, casts reproach where never 
prince, king, emperor, or president, cast reproach 
before. The dissemination of the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ is brought down to the level of these 
political agitators. " The only common element 
of all these forms was propagandism." He ex- 
emplifies these forms by tne various settlements 
in this country, attributing some to a zeal for 
religion, others to a zeal for slavery, and others 
to a zeal for free labor. The injunction of the 
risen Savior, " Go ye forth, therefore, and teach 
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," 
is degraded by such an association. And I can 
discover no other motive for this desecration, but 
a desire to represent the President as condemning 
a great principle of human action. The Senator's 
test of the right to teach and preach anything is 
shown by the inquiry, " Does any law of nature 
or nations forbid ?" The great law in the everlast- 
ing code of the Gospel, of doing as you would be 
done by, forbids every American from such propa- 
gandist interference with the internal affairs of 
another State or Territory, as will tend to raise 
agitation, or to endanger the public peace and 
tranquillity. Leave to others the liberty you 
claim for yourself — the liberty to conduct their 
own affairs in their own way — and there will be 
no need of the perversion of the true principles 
of propagandism to justify unjustifiable acts. 

In the pleasant town where the Senator resides, 
is a dishonorable home provided by retributive 
juctice for unfortunate outcasts, whose crimes, if 
not expiated, are justly punished there. 1 doubt 
not but that many a man has gone there, and will 
yet be followed by many another, victims of false 
and dangerous theories, who have been taught 
that there are aristocrats in the land — privileged 
classes; that property is robbery, and that what 
God made for all the tew have no right to appro- 
priate to themselves; and that he who'wants may 
justly take his share, wherever he finds it, of 
which another has unjustly deprived him. The 
Senator from New York has not yet reached the 
full measure of this faith, though his denuncia- 
tions against one kind of pro; erty necessarily 
lead to the whole doctrine. A little spark kin- 
dleth a great fire. It is dangerous to tamper with 
human passions. Better is it to instruct, than to 
stimulate them. And the Senator, by devoting 
his acknowledged talents to this work, and with- 
drawing from his present field of excitement, will 



8 



acquire more permanent fame than ever followed 
political agitation. ***** 

I shall vote to refuse admission to Kansas ; and at 
the same time I hope that neither African slavery, 
nor any other kind of slavery, will be established 
there; and I believe, if the Senator and his political 
friends will cease their agitation, that Kansas will 
eventually be a free State. At the same time, 
whether slavery is to be established there or not, 
my course will be the same. I shall maintain the 
principle, which leaves that question to the peo- 
ple, and I shall rest satisfied with their decision, 
trusting that the question may be determined by 
them, uninfluenced by any external interference, 
whether from Missouri or Massachusetts. 

But, sir, I have not time to follow the Senator 
in his " extraordinary inconsistency"— another 
phrase coined by him for the President. I must 
hasten on, and leave that task to those who con- 
sider it a useful one. The Kansas Legislature, 
under its panoply of legal form, was as independ- 
ent of the Executive as the Executive was of 
that body. The only case, which admitted legal 
interference, was the case that occurred, when, 
there being danger of opposition to the law, and 
that danger having been duly made known, the 
President promptly took legal measures for the 
preservation of the public peace. For that act 
of wise precaution he is entitled to the commend- 
ation of the country. It has, probably, prevented 
a civil war among the people themselves, and, 
perhaps, an insurrection against the United States. 
After the organization of the Kansas Legislature, 
there were two modes of proceeding open to all 
those who considered themselves aggrieved. One 
was to resort to the judicial tribunals; and the 
other to appeal to Congress. Neither measure 
was adopted. In the mean time the Legislature 
went on with its work of law-making; and its 
labors have been exposed to severe criticism, as 
well as to grave censure — whether justly or not 
does not affect the inquiry we are engaged in, 
which turns upon the legal powers of the Legis- 
lature, and not upon the wisdom or the folly of 
their exercise. * * * * * 

Disregarding the two legal remedies within 
their power, the citizens of Kansas, opposed to 
the action of the Legislature, resorted to a revo- 
lution. This is what the Senator from New York 
calls the movement, while he' approves it ; and 
this ia what it would have been, if carried into 
operation. A convention was elected, and quickly 
convened, and it as quickly formed a constitution, 
making provision for its operation, without the 
sanction of Congress, as soon as approved by a 
popular vote. This vote it received; and if wiser 
counsels finally prevailed, and the constitution 
was not forcibly carried into operation during the 
existence of the government instituted by Con- 
gress, and a collision thus avoided, the result 
formed no part of the original plan. That con- 
stitution is now before us. 

And why this precipitate act of revolution, 
which, if consummated, would have brought 
those participating in it into direct collision with 
the Government of the United States? Why not 
ask Congress for a redress of grievances, arising 
out of a law enacted by itself? No man can doubt 
the power of Congress to watch the operation of 
its own laws, and to provide all necessary rem- 
edies for their maladministration. Nor ought any 
man to doubt, that if this whole matter had been 



LlBRfft 




properly presented by 

the commencement c 

have been an impartia 

by such measures, as 

Instead of that cours 

our sanction to thes- «* fig floe""""""""""'//// 

by confirming them, and tnna ^ woo 207 

ciple incompatible with future tranquiTinvy **. ~ 

Territories, and holding out encouragement for 

future resistance. 

Now, sir, this application will not receive my 
vote. I will agree to set no such example. The 
immediate effect Would be to render operative a 
constitution for Kansas, the work of but one por- 
tion of a people, divided by internal dissensions, 
being a portion arraying itself against the law, 
instead of appealing for redress to this high tri- 
bunal of the nation, competent to administer it. 
The course proposed by the Committee on the 
Territories is free from objection, and I shall vote 
for it. It is to submit to the whole people, and 
by legal authorization, the question of the insti- 
tution of their own government, and not subject 
one portion to the work of another, thus perpet- 
uating divisions, which it is the interest of the 
country to terminate as soon as possible. Warned 
by the past, I think we should provide for the 
future by adequate penalties in the organic laws 
against all unlawful external interference in the 
affairs of the Territories, and especially against 
the entrance of armed persons or parties to con- 
trol or overawe the elections; and I submit for 
consideration, whether some provision of that 
nature is not now required at our hands; whether 
it would not be a just measure in itself, and a 
proper tribute to the purity of elections, a great 
conservative principle, dear to every right-minded 
American. Let us have no more armed invasion 
from without, nor insurrection within. 

Mr. President, many and signal have been the 
interpositions of Providence in our favor, since 
the commencement of our national existence. We 
have been carried forward in a career of pros- 
perity, unexampled in the history of the world. 
Difficulties and dangers have beset us, upon the 
right hand and upon the left; but we have safely 
passed through them, gathering strength in our 
progress, till we have nothing to fear but ourselves 
and the just judgments of God. A question is 
around us, among us, exciting angry passions, 
and arraying one portion of the country against 
another — -a sectional question, the most difficult 
and delicate with which we have to deal. And ■ 
a way has been found to deal with it which 
requires no sacrifice of principle, of pride, or of 
opinion, by one part of the Confederation to the 
other, but their mutual submission of the contro- 
versy to the operation of the great doctrine of the 
right of man to govern himself, the only solid 
basis of republican governments. And the dis- 
pensations of Providence towards us have never 
been marked with more kindness, than in inclining 
the hearts of jthe American people to seek refuge 
from*irppending danger in this, the only means of 
averting it. There is no other ground on which 
we can stand together. The wisdom of man can 
discover no ofcher. But this is holy ground, sanc- 
tified by a living principle, and rising above a 
world of waters, which has been spreading out 
over the land. I trust it will yet stay the flood, and 
rescue us from the only peril, which the patriot 
contemplates with doubt and apprehension. 



frinted at the Office of Uj« Congressional #lobe» 



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UBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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Conservation Resource* 



